Wipe Your Feet

Today's guest: Matthew Bader from GFried Flooring in Paramus. Matt has worked with contractors and homeowners and is a key player in home improvement projects and new construction. Matt talks about getting into sales as a young guy and discusses all the aspects of his business. Check out GFried Flooring online at www.gfriedcarpet.net or @gfriedflooring on instagram.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Since 1961, Court's plumbing has offered friendly, reliable service to residences all over Bergen County, New Jersey.

(00:09):
We are a fourth generation family-owned business, unnotched in customer satisfaction and professionalism while working in your home.
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(00:37):
Call our responsive office team and we'll dispatch a handsome and educated technician to lay the smackdown on all your plumbing issues.
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(01:27):
So, let me ask you, where was your, what happened to your uniform today?
You look like Bozo the American this morning when he walked in.
He walks in, okay.
That ruined his whole day.
Not to mention you.
I was kind of bitter beforehand.
I saw it on his face, 7 a.m. already angry.
I don't know what could happen to you before 7 a.m. that you're angry.

(01:50):
Well, when you're up at 4 a.m., lots of things can happen to you.
Yeah, I guess.
Where are your pants?
Where's your shirt?
You look like you're going to a, did we do laundry this afternoon at least?
No.
Maybe.
No.
Maybe.
No, it wasn't just that.

(02:11):
I was just annoyed at a couple of the things.
And I take it out on you because you're the only one here.
If we had another worker, I could take it out on them.
So, could I?
I could take it out on somebody too.
Right now it's just the dogs.
And people don't take too kindly to animal abusers.
Which we don't do, by the way.
If you can tell by the dogs when they come to work,
you know that they're treated like royalty.

(02:33):
But, yeah, one customer said to me,
do you leave the dogs in the truck all day?
Yeah, but the air conditioning is running.
Like, you know, people say that to me all the time.
I'm like, listen, they have the Taj Mahal in that truck.
They're sleeping on a my, what is it, a purple mattress dog.
I got them a purple mattress.

(02:54):
With a foam top cover.
Toys, water, the view of the world.
They're the most spoiled creatures.
The view of the world.
Their world.
It's the world to them.
I mean, these dogs live the life.
They're all grateful is what they are.
Second you leave the truck, she starts barking.
You know, we always point out how snobby they are.

(03:16):
Yeah, it's a representation of us.
They like when another dog comes around, they literally put up
their noses in the air and walk the other way.
They only like each other.
They gossip about other dogs in the truck.
I don't know, man.
Maybe we're not doing something right.
Mean girls.
Mean girls.
Which is a great movie, by the way.

(03:39):
Mean girls is timeless.
I actually watched it the other day.
It's free on YouTube.
I love that movie.
Not going to lie.
We may edit that out, actually.
Anyway, so cold weather's coming through.
Yeah.
Last few months of riding the motorcycles.
Last month of riding the motorcycles, actually.
Not even.
It's at the end of this week.

(04:00):
It's going to get cold again.
Yeah.
So today, tomorrow and Wednesday, I took it before we
started recording.
I had to take, I took it up the parkway, zipped up and down
real quick.
On the parkway?
You know what?
It's a nice drive.
It is if you want to go like 100 miles an hour and just
rip it.
No one's there to bother you and you can go all the way
up, get off without a toll and then come back.

(04:22):
Where are you getting off?
If you go all the way up, there's no toll.
Beautiful, beautiful weather.
But now we're getting no heat calls.
And are we ready for it?
No.
We're not stocked for it.
We're not ready for it.
Supply houses don't feel ready for it.
We walked in the other day.

(04:43):
And they're, they're everybody's hoping, I know the
supply house is hoping for finally a good heat season
because New Jersey hasn't had a very hard winter in how
many years.
Listen, no offense homeowners, but that's kind of our
bread and butter when it gets really cold in your
pipe freeze.
So we'll take good care of you.
But just to let you guys know, we're kind of happy when

(05:06):
it gets really cold.
So, and we haven't had that.
I mean, last winter was pathetic.
Yeah.
Pathetic.
And not just for plumbers, but for people who like to
snowboard.
None of that.
Snow is terrible.
I love winter.
I don't know if you love one.
I like this time of year.
Winter can, I like winter, but sometimes it's annoying.

(05:29):
I don't know.
I, my cousin lived in Montana for two years when he was
when he was, when he was courting his wife.
And he said he rode where they would wake up once the
snow comes and they would wake up to go to the grocery
store, jump on the snowmobile, go to the grocery store.
It's fun.

(05:50):
But that's more than fun.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
I think you'd get tired of it real quick.
You cry in the heat.
You cry in the cold.
You cry when it rains.
I enjoy the seasons, which is why I stay here.
But otherwise, if it's too cold, I hate the heat the
most.
I would never move down south.

(06:12):
I cannot do the heat.
I'm not made for it.
Yeah.
But what New Jersey needs a good heat, a good heat
season for plumbers.
And I'll tell you when you get a lot of snow and it
covers the ground, that's good for the soil.
That's good for the ground.
It's good for the vegetation.
When we don't have snow covering the ground, we
don't have that season around here.
This area is not used to it.

(06:33):
Like the ground in this area is just not used to it.
It needs the seasons.
It needs the snow.
We need snow.
Yeah.
And I'm not about to go on a global warming
tirade because that's just not happening.
But let's keep our fingers crossed for a good
heating season.
Yeah.
All right, folks.
Well, we want to remind you that this show is brought
to you this season by Jigsaw PMR.
We had Otto on this show.

(06:55):
Otto owns Jigsaw PMR.
He came on.
He talked a little bit about mold remediation and
water damage and what he does.
But Jigsaw PMR is we're going to give a shout out to
them.
They do property maintenance restoration, restoring
peace of mind.
They deal with mold, water damage, fire damage.
I mean, what else do they do?
Everything.

(07:16):
Yeah.
He does anything from big to small.
I mean, he was doing a warehouse not too long ago.
Well, he was doing a warehouse.
He was doing Nordstroms.
Yeah.
The huge jobs, that huge job on Nord, Nordstroms got
completely, I don't know if this is insider
information, but they got completely demolished by
rain.
The roof, the roof drains broke.
Big six inch roof drains.
And it was like Noah's Ark in Nordstroms.

(07:37):
They got the money for it.
They do have the money for it.
But Jigsaw will take care of all that for you guys.
And I got to tell you, Jigsaw is the most responsive
contractor we have on our roster.
100%.
He shows up right away.
He comes in with his little suitcase with all the
testers.
He's got state of the art equipment.
He will be able to tell you where water and mold is

(07:59):
hiding.
And you want to give them a shout out if, excuse me,
you want to give them a shout out if you have any
problems.
If you call us and you have water damage, we're
bringing Jigsaw on the job just to give you guys a
heads up, but give them a call at 201-425-4855.
And you can check them out at www.jigsawpmr.com.
Jigsaw PMR, shout out to Otto and his son who

(08:21):
took over.
Yeah.
Christoph.
Christoph or Christos?
It's, I think it's Christos, but I guess the sound.
Yeah.
Greek.
Yeah.
It's Christos, right?
Yeah.
Folks, listen, we have today a very special guest from
a staple in Paramus that I know you guys pass all
the time.
It looks like a restaurant with the title like fried

(08:46):
food, like they make fried onion rings and stuff,
but it's not.
They actually do high end flooring.
We have Matthew with G-Free'd flooring in
Paramus on Route 17.
You've been with the company for 26 years.
Yeah.
We actually met, this is how Matt got onto the show.
We met at Jigsaw's little grand opening over in
Westwood and we got to talking and I invited him on

(09:09):
the podcast.
Matt, you've been there for 26 years, but G-Free'd has
been there for 46.
46.
Yeah.
I've been there since 17, it was 17 years old.
Yeah.
It's just a crazy journey.
But yeah, just going back to the way that we met, I
thought that was really cool.
Auto had talked to me about, he had a friend that does

(09:30):
social media and you had showed me a business card.
I'm like, all right, let me look it up.
And I was there, looked it up on my phone and I saw
you guys are pretty legit.
So I'm glad to be here.
We'll try to be.
Yeah.
If you touch anything back here, it'll all fall apart.
Don't put a little extra weight on that bench.
Get those quads running because you don't want to
put your phone in.

(09:51):
No, but it looks like you guys do a really good job.
And yeah, it's just, I'm just excited to be here.
You know what?
I will say, how old are you?
43.
Oh, we're the same age.
Same age.
It looks better than it.
Yeah, you look a lot better.
All right, we're going to talk about camera.
I'm on how to, well, you have a, you're married for how long?
I'm married, going to be 15 years in July.

(10:12):
Does that have something to do with it?
No, you know what?
She does, she keeps me clean.
But you know what?
The owner of G-Free when I first started there and I
started to, you know, become, okay, this is going to be my,
my profession.
This is what I'm going to, you know, stay into for, for my
career.
You know, he had taught me, he says, listen, you know, you

(10:33):
only get to make a first, you don't get a second chance to
make a first impression.
So, you know, we're obviously, you know, yes, we sell all
different price range types of flooring.
But, you know, when someone comes in and they're spending
their hard earned money, you want to look the part.
You want to look professional.
Right.
You want to have, you know, even if it's not, I think I

(10:54):
heard you on a podcast once before talk about that, even
if it's not a shirt and tie, like you have some type of
uniform, you guys have your shirts and stuff like that.
Max is not wearing his today.
But, you know, that's important, I think, for, for many
different reasons, but that's what I, you know, kind of was
instilled in me when I first started there and really
started to, you know, get on the sales floor and interact

(11:16):
with clients and stuff like that.
So, appearance is everything.
I hate to sound shallow like that, but it really is.
Even if it's subconscious, like that instant, like you meet
somebody, you know, I know for me, if, if, if I'm doing,
let's say, a measure and somebody just said, hey, look,
do me a favor, go to my client.
Just measure their, their, whatever they were looking
for, you know, there's a lot of things that run through

(11:38):
my mind.
It's like, okay, I'm going into their house.
This is their domain.
How are they feeling?
Cause I know when somebody comes to my house and I don't
know, you know, they, I start to feel like I have a
guard, right?
So you'll actually get contracted to go to a customer's
house and do, you'll make the sale.
So like somebody will come in and they'll say, okay, you
know, I need new flooring for my bedroom, for my basement.

(12:00):
So we'll get, we'll say, okay, we find carpet for them, or
we find flooring and vinyl is pretty big right now.
And, you know, we'll, we'll write up an order, we'll set up
a measure date and then people from our store actually go
out there and we measure ourselves.
Yeah.
Okay.
You know.
So yes, when I go there to the client's home, if I
didn't was the one to actually like work with them, I make

(12:22):
sure like, okay, I got to remember, you know, appearances
everything.
I'm always making sure that I'm, you know, clean, I'm
shaving, I'm, you know, and then also I take a couple
steps back from the door, right?
So I don't want to be like right up on that because
people open the door.
They're like, whoa, wait a minute, why are you right up
on me?
You know?
So I try to put myself in their shoes and I think that,
you know, listen, I'm learning constantly.

(12:44):
I'm reading different things.
I'm learning different things of how, you know, emotions
play a big part in, you know, our actions, especially,
you know, in selling, you know?
I 100% agree.
Yeah.
My uncle taught, when I took this over, my uncle said
the same thing, appearances everything.
Clean.
Your hair's done, not done, but at least clean.
Your beard is okay.

(13:05):
If you're going to wear, my uncle didn't, he's very
anti-beard.
Yeah.
I said, listen, if I'm going to take this over, this is
never coming off.
Right.
So you're going to have to deal with it.
Me too.
I'm not taking his beard off.
Yeah.
At least, you know, you keep it clean.
That's it.
You can't.
Clean.
I mean, we see a lot of guys in and out of the supply
house, great plumbers, but slobs.
Sweatpants.

(13:26):
Sweatpants.
I see some people in sweatpants going into people's
homes.
And sweatpants are so big right now.
It's like everyone's, you know, I don't understand it,
you know, and I feel like, you know, I guess once I hit 40,
I guess it's like, now I'm the older generation now.
I don't know if you feel like that, but I look at,
I look at some people like with what they wear some of these.
It's the crotchety old man now.
Maybe, I don't know.
I'll tell you though, you know what's coming back.

(13:48):
What?
Remember Jankos and UFOs?
The big, big, yeah.
They are back.
I never wore those.
I never wore them.
I rock them all the time.
I used to go to like punk shows and stuff because my friend
was a promoter when he was turned seven, when, when he got
his license, he became a promoter for like all these like
other underground, because I used to be in like the

(14:09):
underground metal and stuff, underground hardcore shows
and stuff like that.
So I play, I was, I look like an idiot.
I'm not going to lie.
I look like a moron, but I rocked Jankos, UFOs, everything.
Yeah.
It's a blast from the past.
Yeah.
I remember those.
I was more into when I was younger growing up into the
rap scene.
So I had the, yeah, I had the baggy, the baggy jeans and the

(14:31):
baggy pants.
You can't say anything about me.
Yeah.
We're both in the same boat.
That were half off my, you know, half off my ass.
But yeah, growing up, that's, that's yeah.
You graduated in 99?
99.
Oh man.
I think I was in my year, huh?
I just, you know what?
I was not to go off track.
We're going to get trapped back track on the, on the
flooring and stuff, but I found a ton of pictures,

(14:54):
literally like two weeks ago out of nowhere.
Yeah.
And I'm just like, oh my goodness, just scrolling through
the stuff you totally forget.
Yeah.
The world was totally different.
I know.
100% different.
No smartphones.
I didn't have the internet.
I didn't touch the internet until 96.
That was the first time I ever touched the internet.
That's when I got a computer, ninth grade.

(15:16):
The first one I touched was in the library.
Yeah.
And I thought chatting with my buddy on the, on AOL
is to make sure it was amazing.
I'm like, I can't believe you can talk to me like this.
It was amazing.
And now it's like second nature, you know, but anyway,
let's get back to the flooring.
Yeah.
Do you want to say anything about how old we are?
You want to make a comment?
You got some better women there.
No, I was talking, I was talking to somebody the

(15:38):
other day I used to have the tape deck, like the portable
tape deck.
Yeah.
I used to have one of those.
Well, Walkman was a CD, right?
No, Walkman was the tape deck.
Discman was the CD.
Discman was the CD.
So I had the Walkman and my mother, when I was like four
years old, she used to just have Ricky Martin.
It was like Ricky Martin on repeat for me when I was
sitting in the.
Ricky Martin's awesome.
Yeah.

(15:59):
I'm sorry.
I love Ricky Martin.
Anyway, he's still around.
He's still kicking.
He looks exactly the same.
Yeah.
Props to him.
So G.
Freed flooring 46 years.
I would say this is my assumption.
You can correct me if I'm wrong.
I would say your biggest competition would be Home Depot
and Lowe's and stuff like that.
Because people are just like, let's just get something that

(16:20):
looks nice.
So, you know, not really in the respects that our
clients, you know, they, they are basically go around.
They don't want to have to deal with the installation.
So yeah, it's like, okay, they could shop for flooring,
but they want something that, hey, look, I'm going to come to
you.
I want to find flooring.

(16:41):
Do you guys install it?
Yes.
Beautiful.
Like I don't want to have to worry about it.
There are some people that says, you know, yeah, okay, I
could find the flooring at Home Depot.
Maybe it's a little bit, you know, less expensive, but I,
then I got to find somebody and it's a hassle and.
I got you.
So typically that's really not our competition.
I would say, you know, it's, it's higher end stores and,

(17:04):
you know, thankfully over the years, we've really established
ourselves as, you know, going through the economic downturn
in the housing bubble burst in 07 and 08, you know, got a lot,
unfortunately for them, you know, kind of weeded a lot of
people out and then obviously COVID, you know, people, a lot
of people retired.
So we really are.

(17:25):
You guys have been there forever.
Yeah.
As long as I can remember, I grew up around this area.
I've always remember seeing G.
Freed and the Alexander mural on.
Yes.
Right.
I remember that.
Yes, I do.
We're the, I guess the sports authority that, that sports.
Yeah.
Somewhere over there.
Garden State Plaza.
The Plaza.
I remember sitting there for 20 years.
Yeah.
So you guys, you have a whole crew to install.

(17:47):
Yes.
So yeah, all of our installers only work for G.
Freed.
So there's no subcontractor.
So a lot of different stores like they may have.
We can keep our, our, our installers busy enough where
they're working for only us.
And you know, we're thankful for that.
So we, you know, we have three full-time installers.
One of them is my father.
You know, he's still working on.

(18:08):
He's still working.
He's 66 now.
That's nothing.
He's a baby.
Yeah.
He is.
But he doesn't, he doesn't do wall to wall kickings anymore.
Cause his body, you know, he's been doing it since he was 18.
So he's kind of beat up and broken down now.
So he does a lot of, we do a lot of custom stair runners.
So a little bit easier, Morphin S.
That's kind of what his, his forte is.

(18:29):
But yeah, we only use our own installers.
They go out, you know, they do an excellent job.
You know, obviously we, you know, we, we see the work that they do prior.
So, you know, over the years we've, we've gone through some,
but we have a select core group of installers that are,
that have now been with us for over a decade.
My youngest installer over a decade.

(18:50):
So you trust them, they do great work.
100%.
I've had them in my house.
They do, they do excellent work.
Um, yeah, it's hard to find good help nowadays.
I'll tell you that much.
It's hard to find good help.
100%.
I mean, you know, I think during COVID, you know,
on a couple of different levels, but even to find people that want to work.

(19:13):
And then also people that are still asking for a fair price or fair wage.
Um, it's gotten very, very difficult.
Of course.
Yeah.
Thankfully we haven't had much turnover, even inside,
like on the admin side or even the sale side.
Thankfully most of our, I was just thinking about this earlier today.
You know, we've had our youngest hire were two of them from three years ago

(19:38):
and two years ago, but besides that, my newest hire would,
he's been with us for 11 or 12 years.
So, um, you know, we don't, it's a heck of a record.
Yeah.
I'm 26.
Roy has been there.
40.
I think it's going to be his 41st year.
I mean, he's been here for seven years, but he has no choice to go anywhere else.
It feels like a lot.

(19:59):
I've blacklisted from every year.
I tried max.
I tried.
I've asked the supply house.
They just give me the cold shoulder.
Yeah.
You guys looking for workers?
But it's, it's tough to find good workers.
And if someone, I mean, there's a lot of aspects to this business.
You have the sales.
Yeah.
You have, I mean, you need to have a buyer to bring in the stuff.

(20:20):
You have to have clients.
Yes.
You have to have, you gotta be on top of what's trending, what's popular.
Yep.
I mean, what's your, I know we talked a little bit about your relationship with contractors
and I do want to touch base a lot on that later, but what about, um, interior designers?
Yeah.
So interior designers are honestly, um, a great partnership, a great, um, asset to have.

(20:46):
It's a two way street.
I think, you know, we are able to offer our interior designers the capability of bringing
them up so that they can focus on other projects or other parts of their design elements that
they need to get done, you know, for whatever their project consists of.
I'll give you an example.
I'm working with a newer designer that we kind of partnered with.

(21:10):
Um, and I'll, and I'll give her a shout out LA home out of a saddle river.
She's, she's amazing.
She's amazing.
But I, you know, when we first started working, she didn't really, she was kind of doing it
herself and I pitched to her and I said, listen, you know, let me make your life easier.
Let me, let me help you so that you can devote more of your time to other elements of your

(21:34):
design process or giving your clients or taking on new clients, um, so that you have, you
know, more time to do these things.
So she's been a rock star and she's, it actually is working out very well.
Um, so yeah, always looking for designers.
I mean, that's, that's, you know, the lifeblood really of our industry, the design element.
I think it's great to know that you have all those aspects.

(21:57):
Well, I, we'd say this all the time.
The reason we started this show initially was we saw the trades lacking in people coming
up in it.
This is that we always say for every seven plumbers that retire or kick the bucket, one
comes up and all these kids are like, well, I'm supposed to go to college.
So I guess I'll just go to college and I'll do that and I'll end up with a hundred thousand

(22:21):
dollars in debt or more on pounding interest, pay it till I'm in the grave.
So that's kind of why we started this show.
And there are so many moving parts to just a flooring business, you know, which there's
there's, there's plenty of ways to make money without college.
I tell, we tell this to kids all the time, you know, we had an interior designer on and

(22:45):
she actually touched base about shopping around and looking for stuff to give people
good quality things.
Um, we've had contractors on and stuff like that.
And I think that, uh, there's so many ways to have a lucrative career without going
to college installing, installing flooring for one.
Yeah.
Guys who want to just work with their hands.

(23:05):
It's a great business.
Absolutely.
You know, yeah.
Um, what is, like I said, we did talk about this off camera because we have beef with
contractors too.
Okay.
All my contractors, I'm going to zoom in.
Let's zoom in the camera.
You guys know what I'm talking about.
He's coming on in a couple of weeks.
I'm going to bust his chops, but here's what I notice about contractors.

(23:27):
They try to do everything.
Their warranty runs out and they're gone.
We, and I was telling you about a house we did this beautiful house over in, I think
it's still an or Adele, either or Adele or Emerson right on the, right on the border.
Huge, beautiful.
The guys got like six bathrooms.

(23:49):
Wow.
We walked in there and you're looking around like, wow, this house is beautiful.
And then I see a crack in the sheet.
Yeah.
And then I see a crack in the door frame.
And then I look down finishing that's not the finishing was garbage and they're using
cheap materials and I'm looking at the tile where it touches the floor and all the seams
on the, on the, on the wood coming together starting to bow up.

(24:13):
And you can tell that it looks good when it's bought, but it's cheap as hell and it does
not stand the test of time.
And if you're going to have a flooring store, I'm going to assume that you have to put
forth quality stuff.
You have to research your stuff.
Am I right on that?
Yeah.
I mean, look at the end of the day, you know, we're not a fly by night company.
And I think, you know, you obviously see the value I'm sure in reviews.

(24:37):
So you know, I put, I put a lot of effort into maintaining and growing our Google reviews.
I think we're up to, I checked today, 556, 4.9 stars.
So that's been a culmination of 12 or 13 years worth of work.
I think we just hit 100.
Yeah.
So, well, you know, we, we have a pro, you actually use some software to make life easier

(25:00):
that kind of automates our job is done, sends an email out.
Hey, look, do you, would you ever recommend us if they say yes, then it's sent them to
Google if they say no, they write why not, what happens them from Google.
Right.
Yeah.
You cannot post.
We get that email and then we make it right.
You know, so the point is, is that yeah, there's quality.
I don't want to get callbacks.

(25:21):
Like I don't, my goal is to make someone happy.
Hey, look, we love this floor.
Listen, things, sometimes things happen.
They need to be addressed.
You know, I tell, call us.
You know, we'll take care of it.
Callbacks will kill a business.
100%.
Yeah.
And then somebody's, you know, that leaves a bad taste or a bad feeling and they're not
going to refer you.
And, and you know, honestly, referral business is huge for us.

(25:41):
I'm sure it is for you too.
Listen, it's one degree of separation around here.
Yes.
Everyone knows everybody, the moms groups on Facebook.
Huge.
Huge.
They are huge.
And if you get in good and you give a good, and you give good jobs to these people, you'll
have good reviews.
That'll just, but if it's bad.
Piss one person off.
Yeah.
And you're going to have to backpedal for years to try to make that up.

(26:02):
Yeah.
And I know companies that have done that.
Yeah.
You know, but if you, if you have quality material, you can stand behind what you're selling.
You know.
Yeah.
And I think, I think it's also too, it's, it's, you know, especially for us because,
you know, we want to differentiate ourselves from just regular flooring.
Like, you know, we just don't sell flooring.
We sell service.

(26:22):
Right.
Like I sell service.
I don't sell because, you know, if you, if you look at it like that, then flooring becomes
just a commodity.
Well, who's, who's, who's the cheapest?
Well, how much for your floor?
Right.
Oh, okay.
I can get a cheaper here.
Well, no, I'm not just selling flooring.
I'm selling the flooring, the installation service, my customer service.
I hold your hand.
I walk you through the process.

(26:43):
I help you design wise.
I come to your home.
I measure.
So there's a, there's a whole process that, you know, it's important to know that we
sell service.
We sell excellent service.
And that's what I try to, that's what I try to emulate.
And you know, thankfully our clients are great and, you know, you run into a few, you know,
speed bumps in the on the way.
You fix them right away.

(27:03):
You, you know, don't ignore them and you just jump on it and you take care of the, whatever
the need is.
Even if, even if you feel like, you know, they're wrong, I do my absolute best to try
to say, okay, let me think outside the box.
Let me think about how in their shoes, let me do the, what I can.
And that's what I do.
And most of the time, whatever it is we work it out, we fix it, we take care of it.

(27:24):
And yeah.
And in an area like this, that is incredibly important to have the service to back it up.
I mean, listen, it's no joke that everything is going up.
It's terrible.
Specifically plumbing, because plumbing uses a lot of brass, copper, expensive metals.
Yeah.

(27:45):
I mean, we put, I put in, I put in two mixer valves, two two inch mixer valves the other
day.
You know what they were a piece, these two big tea, it was a brass tea.
It was about that big and that tall with a cap on it with two brushes on the inside.
Take a guess how much this thing was.
I could even piece.
$4,800 a piece.
Just for brass tube.

(28:06):
$4,800 a piece to mix cold and hot water.
So you don't, it was for an apartment building.
So you don't scald the people who were using the shower.
There was something mechanical in there, I guess.
It was a spring.
There was no electric.
No electric.
48.
$4,800 a piece.
Wow.
$4,800.
And what were they before COVID or?

(28:27):
They were still pricey, but you're probably looking at $28, $27, $28 bucks.
At least half.
Yeah.
I mean, when I started, everything has doubled.
Everything has doubled.
So what we've tried to do, because we want to be, we want to give good, I don't want
customers pissed.
Right.
You know, I don't like that.
Right.
I want customers, we have a five star review.
I plan on maintaining that until we close our doors, God forbid.

(28:50):
Right.
So we say, okay, listen, materials going up, cost of living is going up, gas is going
up, business insurance is going up.
How are we going to still give great service and convince the customer to go with us instead
of the fly by night guy?
So we extend our warranty.
Right.

(29:11):
We give, we give like a yearly visit.
We include all that.
You know what I mean?
So our main competition right now is not to go off a tangent, but it's the big gold
metal, AJ Perry, all those chains.
I'm seeing the gold metal all over the place now.
I see it everywhere now because I think a lot of the converts from New York that are

(29:33):
moving in, they don't know who to call.
They don't know the local guy and the first person that they look up online is the big
company.
Gold metal is, is promoting their, their business hard on Google.
I'm sure.
This, they're not going with gold metal a second time.
Yeah.
They're like three, four times the price.
Yeah.
They are well above average.

(29:54):
They make their money.
They get in.
They get out.
It's a horrible business model though when you think of it.
You know, for, you know, it's like, all right, let me screw the client.
I don't care if they ever call me back.
We got one and done.
Think about that.
That's not like a long jet.
It's not a long game business.
You know, not at all.
How could a business like yours or mine?
I mean, I'm third generation.
My grandfather started this 1961.

(30:16):
Everybody knows courts.
Right.
When he started and he got his own truck, he couldn't drive around town without somebody
honking or waving.
And he always thinks they always think it's my uncle.
Like, oh, he can't, you can't go anywhere.
Yeah.
You can't, there's no peace in a court's truck.
Today, they get the crossing guard said, say hi to Paul.
Yeah.
It's like, all right, whatever.
But like, I don't see him.

(30:37):
When you have an established business that's been there forever.
Yeah.
And you've got to realize props for being there for 46 years through 2008, through COVID,
through the ups and downs.
That's hard to do.
The amount of stores that have opened and closed on that strip on 17.
Yeah.
On 17.
Yeah.
Crazy.
Yeah.

(30:58):
I mean, look, you know, obviously there's, you know, a lot of fiscal responsibility
that, you know, making sure that, hey, look, we save for a rainy day, you know, because
obviously everyone knows there's business cycles.
You know, there's booms and busts and, you know, we were coming out of a major boom,
you know, so you have to now, okay, prepare for a business and say, okay, well, if there's
a downturn, we got to make sure that we tighten up.
So I think a lot of that was, you know, fiscal responsibility from, you know, the owner down.

(31:24):
I also think it was our reputation in the industry like, okay, yes, we did, things slowed
up and, you know, but we were able to weather these, these storms.
And I think I appreciate that.
And I would say the same for you.
I mean, you guys obviously are doing something right for longer than we have.
We've opened seven in 1978.
There's been times we're hanging by a thread.

(31:45):
I do want to take a quick break.
All right.
And I want to, when we come back, I want to get into the ins and outs of sales, like
your aspect of the job.
But I want you to tell people where you buy your shirts from, where you get those shirts.
So this one, this one is a Banana Republic shirt.
I got this at the out banana Republic at the Bergen mall.
Do you have any suggestions?

(32:07):
So this is the course.
It's not going to look good.
Don't worry.
It's just not going to look the same.
Our uniforms, we went to blue button downs.
Oh, okay.
As plumbers.
And I'll tell you why my grandfather used to wear a blue button down.
Why?
When he went out.
Why?
Yeah, why?
I kind of wanted to go with my, what my grandfather used to wear.
Okay.
Just as a throwback.
Gotcha.

(32:27):
But it makes us stand out.
No plumbers are wearing button downs.
He doesn't want to give me credit.
I gave him the idea.
I gave him the idea.
It was, I saw the picture of grandpa.
I said, let's do this.
I like it.
It does stand out though.
I like it.
Try to stand out.
That's what we try to do.
We try to stand out.
So blue shirts, logo.
And I like the collar too.
It's, you know, there's not many plumbers that you see out there.

(32:50):
It's a t-shirt.
It's a t-shirt.
T-shirt.
Covered in PVC glue.
So bad.
And I'm trying to, and I know we got to take a break, but last point I want to make is
I wanted to tell my installers they wear t-shirts.
But I said, guys, you know what?
I think it's time to step it up.
I want to find them like short sleeve, like the performance golf tees that have the logos.
It looks a little bit more professional.

(33:10):
It makes you stand out.
And we talked when we first started the show, you, what'd you say appearances, appearances
pretty much everything.
You don't get a second chance to make a first impression.
That's it.
It's very important.
All right.
Let's take a break.
We'll come back.
We'll delve into a little bit more.
Okay.
And guys, thanks for watching.
We'll be right back.
All right.

(33:35):
Thanks.
Call courts plumbing and heating.
Top rated plumbers in North Jersey for over 60 years.
And don't forget to keep treats for Frankie on hand.
They'll help to subdue her carnal animalistic nature.

(33:59):
G-Freed carpet and design simply the best of the best for over four decades.
When you need flooring or carpet cleaning, you need a local company with experience
that you can trust.
G-Freed carpet and design is one of the most respected flooring companies anywhere.
Winners of the national best of the best award for customer satisfaction.
Please visit our stunning showroom at 495 Route 17 in Paramus or the website at G-Freed

(34:21):
carpet.net to set up your free consultation.
G-Freed carpet and design the best of the best.
Welcome back to Plum Bums podcast, the every man's podcast, the blue collar tradesman

(34:46):
show where we talk about small business and entrepreneurship in these crazy times of 2024.
And what crazy times they are.
I mean, has we ever lived?
What generation has lived through the garbage that we're experiencing every day?
We've got an election coming up.
I'm sure all of you know that.
And that's just putting the cherry on the Sunday of the craziness of the craziness of

(35:09):
your anger.
I can't pay attention.
I can't.
I can't follow it.
No, I don't.
I don't.
I cannot pay attention anymore.
I don't.
It's like a big clown.
It's a big clown.
I can't look at social media.
I can't.
I'm just.
I can't even take it anymore.
I say it's funny.
There's a lot of funny clips that come out of it.

(35:29):
This is a very comical time to be alive.
If you're not laughing at it, then then you're I think you're taking it the wrong way.
Yeah, Matt, we don't really get political on the show, but I mean, that's a good thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But as far as what's going on in the media and all this is I focus on the business, focus
on riding the motorcycle and past going camping or whatever.

(35:49):
I just can't I can't do it.
But yeah, I've turned it all off.
I mean, I really it's just too much.
I know when I want to get news, I'll just, you know, I'll go out and say, okay, I'll
check the news and I'll read it and say, okay, you know, that's what it is.
But I don't I'm not now getting pushed information like you're saying social media.
Like, you know, you have all these different feeds pushing you all these different, you

(36:11):
know, new sources and how you need to think and what I just had.
It'll kill your soul.
It will kill your soul.
Yeah.
Well, that's a good and the bad about social media now is that you get like our parents
grew up with four TV stations, four new stations, basically, and that's all they got.
And that's all they know.
Now you have the Internet and you can get information from anywhere.

(36:34):
Yeah.
It's good and bad.
You have all this information at the at the at the tip of your fingers.
Yeah.
And just people are.
Yeah, I see it.
I see it with my niece.
Like, I took her upstate to go camping and riding ATVs.
I told her, you can't bring your iPad and the whole way up there, it's an hour and a
half away and she's just like she's not even looking out the window.

(36:55):
She's just staring at the back of the seat like this, like that doesn't know what to
do.
Really?
Yeah.
And I'm like, when she gets up there, she loves riding ATVs and doing all that stuff.
But like, you know, you know, I just like looking out the window and just like enjoy.
It was a little cruel to take the iPad away from the trip up, but that's just my opinion.

(37:16):
It's it's fall.
It's beautiful.
Everything is changing the outside.
It's nice to look outside.
But remember when you were eating your cereal in the morning and all you had to do is all
you had to read was the back of the cereal box.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If I don't have entertainment at lunchtime, like it's like try to eat lunch now without
it's true.

(37:37):
Turn on just Judy or something.
Or you're in the bathroom on the toilet, just reading the back of the shampoo bottle.
Times have changed.
What's your you had mentioned, you know, growing up and eating cereal.
What was your favorite cereal growing up?
So my parents were very, very strict with cereal.
We were able to have Cheerios.
Okay.

(37:58):
The brand flakes wasn't even frosted flakes.
And occasionally we would get like Captain Crunch or like Cocoa Puffs.
And that was just amazing.
Cookie Crisp was my absolute favorite.
I was like, okay, hold it.
You know, my grandparents used to always stock Cookie Crisp in Ohio.
They used to stock the best cereal.

(38:20):
Cookie Crisp.
Do they still sell that?
I think so.
I actually got to go grocery shopping after this.
If you find, I'll tell you, pick it up.
Did you see that cereal movie that Seinfeld just did?
He just did a Kellogg's cereal movie.
Yeah.
My daughter, we started watching it.
It was about Kellogg.
Kellogg's.
And I don't know who the competitor was, but I don't know if they're even around anymore.

(38:41):
There was Kellogg's versus another company.
What's this movie about?
It's about Pop Tarts and Cereals.
Like that's apparently Seinfeld is like big cereal.
What do you think about Pop Tarts?
I never was into them as a kid.
I just, my brother liked them, but I didn't know what the whole thing was.
This kid will slam on the brakes for a Pop Tart.
You love Pop Tarts.

(39:01):
I love Pop Tarts.
I grew up with Pops Tarts.
I grew up with Pops Tarts.
Yeah.
Poster strudel.
Cereal wasn't a big thing for me.
I didn't, my brother's crazy about cereal.
Cereal, I can take it or leave it.
Frosted flakes.
What else?
I love Honey Nut Cheerios.
Yeah, that's my go-to.
But remember this cereal, what are we talking about?

(39:24):
Remember this cereal called O's?
It was big, looked like big Cheerios with like a whole bunch of stuff, stuff in the middle
of them.
That's the best cereal and you can't find it anywhere.
Honey Bunches of O's?
No.
Lucky Charms.
Lucky Charms.
The Marshmallows.
Love the sugar.
I just love sugar.
I'm just a big sugar addict as you can tell.
Anyway, guys, we're here with Matt from G-Freed Flooring, Paramus Route 17, there for 46

(39:51):
years, which is a milestone in this area, like we talked about before the break.
All those stores opening and closing.
I mean, you haven't become a spirit Halloween yet.
Yeah, it's going to be all chains.
It's going to be all chains.
Route 17 is becoming all chains.
They just closed down what was the firehouse, an outstrip filet.

(40:12):
Fireplace.
Yeah, the fireplace.
Yeah, that's been a staple.
They're talking about, you know, 78, you know, long, long time.
Yeah, very sad to see that.
I worked there.
Did you?
Oh yeah, we all worked there at some point.
Everyone worked at the fireplace.
Your sister, that's how I met your sister.
Yeah.
When she was like a little 17-year-old girl toting around selling burgers.
Stealing money out of the tip truck.

(40:33):
You heard that story?
No, I just assumed, but I don't know.
Yeah, G-Freed flooring.
I pass that place all the time.
So there's, we talked about before the break, there's a ton of aspects to your business.
It's not just flooring.
Right.
You have the sales, you have the interior design.
Mm-hmm.
You have the installers.

(40:53):
Yeah.
You have guys that go out and measure, which is actually you.
Yep.
You're in sales.
Yes.
That's your primary.
Well, you know, I, it is, you know, I'm getting pushed in that direction, but I have, I'm
thinking about this today because you're going to ask me, you know, what does my day look
like?
So, you know, every day is different.

(41:16):
I could walk in and I'm putting out fires.
I'm dealing with, let's say, a customer problem or an installation problem.
You know, I have to jump on it.
Okay, what do we need?
Let me think outside the box.
Let's just get this done.
What do I need to figure it out?
So, my day is different every day, but yes, I'll do sales, also go out, do measuring services,
you know, meet clients.

(41:37):
We also, during COVID, I came up with a new design, a new service that we were offering
because everyone was at home.
So, I was offering working with clients remotely via, this was actually before COVID, via FaceTime
or Skype.
So, I know my family, you know, I only have one child, but, you know, young, we're busy.

(41:58):
We don't really have time to go into showrooms to look.
So, I said, you know what?
I put myself in my shoes and I said, okay, what would our customers or our clients want?
And I implemented that before COVID, during COVID, a lot of our competitors started doing
that, which was, which is interesting.
So, you know, I'm always thinking of.
Does that work for you though?
The, the, like, I'm going to call it like a Zoom, Skype, call it type meeting because

(42:22):
it's like with the Carvana thing.
Yeah.
I can't imagine myself going and not going to the, to the floor store and like seeing
what I'm going to buy.
I couldn't imagine myself buying a car online without even seeing it.
And then it just shows up to my doors.
Did it work?
Yeah.
So, yeah, great question.
So, what I do is when I, when we were doing a lot of Zoom calls during COVID, I would,

(42:46):
I would either, you know, walk through the store and I'd say, okay, you know, I'm going
to show you a bunch of samples.
Let me know what you guys like.
So, it's show it to me.
Yeah, I liked that one.
I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would
like to walk around your phone.
I would, yeah.
Like literally walk up.
Yeah.
I'd walk around the store with my phone and they would say, yeah, I like that sample.
Okay.
So, I'd write that sample down or I'd take a screenshot of it.
And then after we were done with our call, I would order them samples and send it to

(43:07):
the house so that they could feel, see it, feel it, touch it.
So that's usually how it worked.
And they say, okay, I like this one.
Okay.
You know, whatever I had to do.
Okay.
Let's come out to my house.
Let's set up a measure.
But yeah, I did that a lot.
Okay.
So that's how it caught on pretty quick.
It caught on quick during COVID.
People utilized that during COVID.
Now it's not so much because people, you know, they're, they're, they feel okay coming into

(43:30):
shows.
But what I still do to this day is because people are busy, you know, younger families
and stuff like that.
I'll work remote with them.
Maybe not a jump on at a FaceTime or a Skype call, but I'll, they'll, they'll send me an
email.
They'll send me a text.
Say, hey, look, I found this online.
Can you find me something similar?
I'm looking for a stair runner.

(43:50):
So I'll go through my store and I'll just take pictures and then I'll text it to them.
That's service, man.
Yeah.
That is service.
So I'm doing the shopping for them.
Yeah.
And they're just, I said, just do me a favor.
Just heart the ones you love.
If it's an iPhone, I say heart the ones you love.
Okay.
I love, you love those.
Okay.
Is six of them.
I order them the samples and in three or four days they have the samples at their house.

(44:11):
See that's what people don't understand.
Well, that takes time.
Yeah.
That takes time.
That's service.
That's customer service.
Do you make, do people pay for that?
Do people pay for, they don't?
No, it's all okay.
If they don't go with you, you don't make them pay for that?
It's a gamble.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, you know, a lot of times, you know, our clients see that and, you know,

(44:32):
they understand this.
Hey, listen, you know, I need flooring, you know, I like the service.
I'm going to go with you guys.
But sometimes when it comes, because obviously we don't know, I try to qualify and ask them,
okay, do you know the sizes of your room?
Do you know many square feet you have?
Do you have a budget?
Are you thinking, you know, so I try to get all these questions out.
Up front to number one, make sure that I'm showing them stuff that's going to be comfortable

(44:54):
for them to purchase.
I don't want to show them something that, oh my gosh, that's $10,000.
I was thinking of spending three.
Yeah.
You don't want to waste time on that.
Right.
Because that's time consuming.
Exactly.
And, you know, I want to qualify them.
Sometimes people don't even know.
And yeah, there's sometimes that it does happen where, you know, they say, oh, I love that
carpet.
I mean, it happened actually recently.
You know, I love that carpet.

(45:14):
It was $20 a square foot.
You know, and for a bedroom, it was $60, $500.
And they're like, yeah, listen, I don't want to spend that.
I get it.
I understand that.
But for whatever reason, I didn't have the measurements up front.
They didn't know what they were.
So now I have to find carpet that's less expensive.
So I ordered samples and, you know.
You have to do that in this day and age.
In this day and age of Amazon, next day delivery.

(45:36):
Yeah.
With garbage, cheap garbage.
It's the instant gratification.
Yeah.
Everyone wants, you know, so you have to.
It's going to be tough to kind of gauge where we're going to go as a society because everyone,
there's a whole generation raised off instant gratification.
Yeah.
Here's another thing as a salesman.
Do you like for people who come in the store, do you, can you kind of gauge who's just a

(45:58):
looker and who's actually like, like who's a window shopper and who's because my dad,
35 years of business, he knows who's looking and who's going to buy and he won't even go
out to greet the people who are just like looking.
He's like, I don't know, I'm not doing that.
Great question.
Yeah.
So you, you obviously, I've been doing it for a while.
You have an idea of somebody, look, I've worked with some people that honestly we have, you've

(46:22):
been in our showroom.
So you, so we have a lot of flooring samples.
Like sometimes people come into our store and they're just overwhelmed.
They're like, wow, this is a lot to even process.
And they're like, I just can't even do this.
So yeah.
I mean, there's, you can kind of tell people that are, you know, not sure or just looking.
You know, I still give them the respect and the service that, you know, they deserve because

(46:43):
at the end of the day, I want them to feel a certain way and not leave our store, you
know, leaving a bad taste in their mouth because number one, they could leave us a bad review
saying, Hey, look, I, they just ignored me and I don't ever want to do that.
You never know if they're going to come back or if they, you know, need a referral or something.
Hey, I went into G freed, but you know, I, you know, it's a great store.

(47:03):
You should go check them out.
So, you know,
I think your dad's mostly just had.
I think he gave a time and give it 35 years.
He's not getting up out of that chair.
He's also in an area where it's just like it's, it's dealing with a lot of shoppers.
It's a lot of shoppers in an area where like there's like 10 different languages spoken

(47:24):
over there.
And it's like, he's like, I don't know.
And what industry is he's in retail?
Car sales.
Car sales.
Yeah.
Listen, that's tough.
I don't know if I could do car sales.
That's really a tough, you know, I watched this guy on, on YouTube.
Andy Elliott.
So he focused, he was a car salesman.
The bald guy?
Yeah.
Yeah.

(47:44):
I know who you're talking about.
He's got like the, the hostage tape and he does all this crazy stuff.
He's super fit.
Yeah.
But he basically, you know, you have to like have this great attitude and he really trained
himself to ask the right questions to know like, Hey, look, car sales, you get a lot
of objections.
You get, you know, people put up a wall.

(48:05):
It's, I know when I, when I shop for cars.
Yeah.
You know, it's like I walk in and I'm like, cause there's a reputation there.
Right.
Exactly.
So that's why Carvana blew up because they don't have to deal with the salesman.
Yeah.
Give me your lowest price.
Exactly.
Yeah.
People have a rep, people have a preconceived notion about plumbers too.
We have a reputation.
You know, I don't know why it's, it's car salesman.

(48:27):
I get it cause I, my dad knows people in the industry, but like lawyers have their bad
rep.
Yeah.
It's true.
You know, every industry has like their weird bad rep.
They just have a bad rep.
Contractors have a bad rep.
You know, it's, it's different.
The trades, everyone's like, Oh, are you guys charging so much and yada, yada, yada.
It's like, listen, there's a whole bunch of different trades, but they're all different.

(48:49):
And everyone says plumbing is so expensive.
Plumbing is so expensive.
Plumbers have the most overhead.
We don't, the contractors.
Highest insurance.
Highest insurance that's constantly getting raised.
I don't know why.
We're getting slaughtered right now with insurance.
And I have to put my face where you take a poop.
So yeah, that's pretty tough.
I don't know.
It's gross.

(49:09):
Yeah.
You know, but on top of that, we talked about the parts, $4,800 for a single mixer valve.
Contractors, the customers usually buying their own material and they're just charging
labor.
Right.
But I have to, I have to stock a whole bunch of real estate on my truck with very expensive
parts.
Yeah.
The liability is there.
I have to, you know, we have overhead.

(49:30):
I got to lay the answers, the phones.
So all the, I have no problem justifying our price.
It gets a little annoying after a while.
Yeah.
How many people do you have working over there?
Total of 10 on the inside, sales and admin, installation manager, warehouse, I think 10
or 11 on the inside.
Yeah.

(49:51):
Yeah.
And then installers.
I have three crews of two, four, six.
So maybe seven, three crews, seven total on the outside.
It's a pretty good crew.
Seven crews of three people?
No, three crews total.
Total of seven people.
So it's two of the trucks have two people and the other trucks got three.

(50:12):
So you said your dad was an installer.
Yeah.
For how long?
Your whole life?
For my, yes.
I'm sorry.
My whole life, yes.
I think he started when he was 18 or 19.
What would you say to kids coming and getting out of high school that they've never had
a job?
Should get their hands dirty like you.
Yeah.
I definitely think, listen, you can make a lot of money in flooring.

(50:36):
It's a tough, but if you like to get, use your hands to work and make a living, I think
it's a great industry to get into.
I mean, look, our industry, we need to qualify and installers just like you guys need qualify
plumbers.
We're in a shortage too.
And our industry is trying to do the best they can to let people know like, hey, look,

(50:56):
this is an industry where you can make a good living.
There's also satisfaction too.
It's like, you know, when you finish installing flooring, whether it's carpet or wood and
you finish that room and I'm sure you probably feel the same way in certain projects, there's
a dopamine boost.
Oh yeah.
You get like, I just did that.
Well, listen, with the flooring, when in a house with brand new flooring, it has to be

(51:18):
so satisfying.
It's a satisfying thing to see.
You know what?
I just did that.
It looks beautiful.
You know?
So yeah, I mean, I think it's rewarding to get into that industry and, you know, like
we're saying college is, you know, I went to college, didn't finish.
Yeah, I went to community school so I didn't have a huge, you know, debt to pay.
But you know, I think for other people that, you know, hey, look, college is not for you.

(51:44):
I think getting into these trades are, you know, phenomenal, whether it's flooring, whether
it's plumbing, whether it's electrical, you can make a lot of money.
What about sales though?
You know what we haven't really had on here?
I guess secondary would be sales, but yeah, what would you say?
Because you can make a, not just flooring, sales in general.

(52:06):
Yeah.
What do, what qualities do people need to have to be a good salesman deal with the public
life in your opinion?
Because I have my own.
Yeah.
I mean, I think, I think, you know, have confidence, like they need to have confidence in themselves,
right?
Um, a good work ethic.
Like, hey, look, I'm here to work, I'm here to, you know, try my best, um, willingness

(52:30):
to, to learn.
I think, you know, hey, look, I've been doing this for 26 years.
I still learn something new.
I try to find something new to, to learn.
I, you know, go on YouTube and I'm looking at a different thing.
So I think a willingness to learn, um, show up on time.
I think, you know, if you have timing issues, I think that's, you know, show up on time,

(52:53):
show.
I think I heard somebody on YouTube say, if you show up on time, you're late.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Show up 10 minutes early.
That's what Ronnie says.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It says the same thing.
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
And I just, yeah.
I feel like sales is something that you, do you think it's something that you can learn?
I think it's something you can perfect.

(53:13):
I think it's something that you either have or you don't.
Certain, certain people have a personality where they're just, they have, they can establish
a rapport with people right away.
Yeah.
I think there's definitely people like that out there.
Yeah.
But I'm going to say for experience, I was the shyest kid growing up.
I mean, the fact that I'm even here now doing this, you know, I think says a lot.

(53:35):
I think, you know, you grow, you know, you push yourself to do so.
But yes, I think anybody can learn to be a salesman.
It's going to take, you know, time, effort, studying, you know, practicing, going over,
um, you know, objections and saying, okay, if you get this objection and being prepared,
you know, really being, you know, prepared for those, because they're really basically

(53:57):
the same objections just in different, you know, formats.
I think one of the biggest things is you have to believe in what you're selling.
Yes.
Because we are salesmen also.
We go into a house, someone says, oh, my toilet is, um, my toilet valve is going.
Okay.
Your toilet valve is going, but also your tank is loose.
Right.
You have a crack down here.

(54:17):
Yeah.
To be honest, you'd be better suited for this.
I believe in what I sell.
Yeah.
So we're going to, we're going to do this job for you.
We're going to do a great job.
We're going to give you a bang and warranty.
We have great reviews.
I believe in our background.
I believe in our history.
I mean, my grandfather used to take us out like yours, you're dead.

(54:38):
Yeah.
He used to take us out.
As soon as the boys hit 10 years old, they're going to work with grandpa.
Yeah.
He would take us out for a couple of years.
You have to believe in what you're selling.
Yeah.
If you don't believe it, the customer's going to pick that up right away.
Well, I think it also helped that you worked on in the different fields of this business.
You were an installer.
Yeah.

(54:59):
You said you cleaned.
You were in the cleaning crew.
It's like, if you have to know all of those things and then you can say, all right, I
can sell this now.
Yeah.
I think that was definitely a crucial part of my understanding because I basically, yeah,
I started in part time in the summers in the warehouse.
Then I went on to the cleaning truck and we were cleaning for a few summers.
Then I started working, you know, very, like part time admin, just like learning some of

(55:23):
the paperwork aspect of it.
And then, you know, I became full time and I really kind of had my hand in everything
and then, you know, got into the sales part.
But yeah, I think, I think I agree with you.
My coworker, Chris, says the same thing.
It's like, I need to be able to believe in that.
He used to work all retail jobs.
He worked at Brookstone.

(55:44):
That's the place in the mall, right?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That sells these kind of funky different things.
Like massage chairs.
Yeah.
He says, listen, you know, I never believed in that.
It's like, I never, I was a salesman, but I never believed in their products.
Like, why should you buy a $10,000 massage chair?
It's like, it's just, he says, but now he came here and he's like, listen, I believe
in the product.
I believe in the, you know, the reputation.

(56:04):
I believe in the products you're selling.
You know, I believe that it's a benefit to the clients that need help.
So I agree 100%.
You need to be able to, that's the core.
Customers aren't stupid.
No.
They're not stupid.
They're stupid.
They're not stupid.
You're right away.
Yeah.
kind of maybe need this, or, you know, they're gonna be like, well, I don't need it.

(56:25):
Right.
You know?
Listen, I, here's the biggest thing I see, especially since I have young cousins that
are going off to college and getting ready for college.
All around them, all these kids are going to college and they feel pressured.
So there is no other option from the guidance counselor saying, why don't you work a summer?
Why don't you work a year?
go get a job as a landscaper or go install,

(56:49):
go hit up G-Free to see if they need help for the summer.
There's none of that.
So there's like almost bullying into college.
And I tell you, it's almost a trap nowadays.
Well, people I think feel guilty.
I mean, I think if they feel like,
they don't have a choice like you were saying,
like they have to and if they don't go, they feel guilty.
And I don't think that's,

(57:12):
I think there's a lot of people out there
that should go to college.
And then I think there's people that shouldn't.
I was one that just wasn't, college wasn't for me.
Me neither.
I tried it.
I really tried it.
I partied way too much.
I went to college in Boston too,
which is so much fun.
It was so much fun.
I mean, I love that city.

(57:33):
The histories, I'm a big history buff.
History is gorgeous.
It was a lot of fun.
It was a great experience to be, but to be honest,
I should have waited or not gone at all.
And I should have dipped my toes in working.
I really should have been trying to find out what,
I mean, in your opinion, let's say a 16, 17 year old kid
comes to G-Free.
He's like, I wanna learn how to install flooring.

(57:53):
Did you guys take them on?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
We would definitely throw them on one of my installers truck
as an apprentice and see if he likes it.
I mean, even if it was sales, even if somebody said,
hey, look, I'm not sure I just finished high school,
but I don't wanna go to college.
Hey, you wanna come on and let's say you're,
somebody that's interested,
like we were talking about interior design.
You said, and I had actually someone from one of the colleges

(58:14):
that were, that's close on Midland Ave.
Like, hey, look, can we possibly refer people
that are interested or graduate interior design?
Maybe they could work apprenticeships here.
So listen, if you're into fashion and interior design,
listen, you wanna work an apprenticeship, absolutely.
That's awesome.
Yeah, we would love to have people come on
and educate people and help them like really.

(58:35):
There's a lot of kids that say,
oh, I wanna be a interior designer.
I have to go to college right away.
You don't.
No, you definitely don't.
You don't at all.
Let me ask you this.
So being a business for 46 years,
long time phone book days, yellow pages days,
where the only, that's where you would buy your ads.
How have you guys, or are you still working on it?

(58:56):
How have you kind of evolved with branding,
marketing, social media?
What does that look like?
What has that looked like the past 10, 15, 20 years?
So yeah, obviously, back in the day,
there was the yellow book, yellow pages.
We used to do that, but that wasn't really a great way

(59:19):
of marketing or advertising.
So I think it was important as,
we first got a website in 2004, 2005,
to now market that and promote that website.
So it was probably about 13 or 14 years ago

(59:40):
where I said, okay, look,
these Google reviews are gonna be super important.
This is very vital to a business.
So he invested in gathering legitimate reviews
from our clients that we had installed.
It was a grind.
It's a process, just like, search engine optimization,
different types of marketing.
Right now, we're like you guys are,

(01:00:01):
we're trying to really move our Instagram page.
You can find us at G-Free'd Flooring on the IG and TikTok.
Oh, you got a TikTok too, huh?
You got a TikTok too.
All right.
But somebody, one of my website guys,
year ago, 18 months ago, was like, listen,
he's like nobody in the,
because he's specific to the flooring industry.
Like the guy who does my website, it's all flooring.

(01:00:24):
He's like, listen, he's like, nobody else
in the flooring business is really pushing themselves
on TikTok.
He's like, so you guys should really go after him.
True.
So, it's a grind, social media.
It sure is.
Yeah.
It's a whole nother job.
It is.
So we actually have, we had hired someone.
Shout out to Sammy.
She's excellent.

(01:00:44):
She's helped us try to grow our social media page.
She actually goes on site to jobs, takes video,
edits it, uploads it to Instagram, TikTok.
Yeah, so you can't do it by yourself.
No.
You just can't.
I mean, I am doing it by myself.
Well, it's a lot of work.
But you want to,
It's a lot of work.

(01:01:05):
I don't have a wife and kids though.
This episode was shot in 2019.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It is a lot of work.
It's worth it though.
I'll tell you what sells and what makes you go viral
is humor.
Yes.
It has to be humorous.
Yeah, I can't, you know,
when I first started the Instagram pages,
I was, you know, showing a lot of, you know,

(01:01:25):
in-store samples.
Like people don't give a crap about,
they don't want to see samples.
It sucks that's the reality.
That is.
They want to be entertained.
What do people want?
Entertainment.
You got to figure out an angle.
You have to figure out what people want to see.
Drop a bowling ball on the finished floor.
That's what we did.
So they might, no, not a bowling ball,
but so we just did a job, a stair runner job.

(01:01:48):
And it's a pain in the neck to do,
but we feel, I went to the job site as we were installing
and stairs take a long time to install.
So I had, she had me,
Sammy had me, my social media girl,
she had me walk down these stairs
and in the middle sit down.
Then the job was done.
I came back the next day.
I came down the same stairs and sat down,

(01:02:09):
but I had to wear the same clothes,
the same socks because it had a match.
So what it was, it was a transition.
So I walked down the stairs and when I sat down,
it automatically went from no carpet on the stairs
to carpet on the stairs.
Oh, that's cool.
Yeah.
So, and it's one of our best performing Instagram posts.

(01:02:30):
I gotta look at that.
Yeah, check it out.
I gotta check that out.
I'm always looking at,
cause we do, we film on the job site too.
I make, I try to put together like a boiler job
or a sewer line job.
So trying to tackle the humor,
but even I find there's really successful plumbing pages,
but they're humorous.
Replumb, that guy, all he does is he'll show you

(01:02:51):
how to put the hose.
Sits up a little tripod.
But he does this stupid little voice.
Yeah.
As if he's like an old contractor,
like heckling him.
Yeah.
And the guy is winning.
He's getting sponsored by Milwaukee.
Wow.
Yeah. Huge.
Yeah, that, you know, I see other people,
there's this great, they're called Realty Brothers,

(01:03:12):
Realty Brothers and Laws on Instagram.
I don't know if you guys like the office.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sega Parks and Rec fan here.
Okay.
So they did, it's two, they're Brother and Laws
and they do real estate. They are hilarious.
And they don't really talk about, you know, like,
hey, look, this is, I have a house for sale.
It's like they just do stupid stuff

(01:03:32):
and it is hilariously funny.
And they're on talk shows.
Like they're going to other people's podcasts.
It's rude.
I tell you, that's how you have to do it.
Nobody cares about my water heater.
No.
Nobody cares about flooring.
Yeah.
That's the thing.
But if you have, if you have the outgoing personality,
you can think of some funny stuff.
You might be able to, we utilize the dogs a lot.
Yeah, which is good.
I tell you, what'll be good for your social media page.

(01:03:54):
The installers, throw a camera in the truck
for your installers and just listen to them.
Just listen to them bitch and moan about.
We, yeah.
We just did, so there was a,
one of our clients came in, previous client,
but she was redoing her house in Ridgewood.
And I forget the whole story.

(01:04:15):
Her husband's in film and anyway,
this old house is doing a whole expose on the renovation
and stuff like that.
In Ridgewood.
In Ridgewood, yeah.
Okay.
So we went out there and, you know, we,
I had asked her, I said, okay, listen,
I'll help you out on this, but, you know,
can we come out there and shoot some, you know,
do some filming while they're filming?
So, we did, we went out there and, you know,

(01:04:36):
they had their whole TV crew.
And it was just, it was a good experience.
You know, we got a lot of good content
and we were there and we did some funny content for TikTok.
So you'll see, I'll have to show you when they post it.
I'll join it.
But, yeah, you know, it's connecting with other accounts,
connecting, you know, that's important.
It's, you know, coming on your podcast is, you know,
that's-

(01:04:57):
Dude, like I said, it's a whole-
We're gonna get you like 30 new people.
Hey, listen, I'll take, I'll take one, you know?
I'll take anything.
You're hitting the bottom of the barrel over here.
We thank you for coming on this channel.
It is a whole different world.
Yep.
Like we said before, in the last 20 years,
a whole different ball game.

(01:05:18):
When I took over my uncle, I was like, okay, well, listen,
we have a website, are we doing anything on social media?
He goes, well, I mean, do you want to take it?
We out of yellow pages ad?
I'm like, who?
Yeah.
You have the yellow pages?
No.
Well, okay, well, I've taken out the yellow pages.
So I, when I came in, I built the website,
I built social media and I did SEO from scratch.

(01:05:40):
Yeah.
Where are we still, I started,
this is before you came in, I started a blog, hidden.
Yeah.
And I would post five, six, seven times a day to get our SEO.
Yeah.
And now we have, I mean, now I'm doing green screen work
with the dog and popping up, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
So it's evolving, but I'll send you my YouTube channel

(01:06:02):
because there's like videos from seven, eight years ago
when I first started, so stupid.
Yeah.
But I tried.
Hey, listen, that's all you have to do.
My, our business neighbor, Bambi Baby,
who's huge on Instagram, he's really, he's big out there.
He just opened up another store in Miami.
He told me, cause I was trying to get into this.
And you know, sometimes you just need that push
to like just go do it.

(01:06:23):
Even if it's not perfect, like you were saying,
just go do something, start and you get better.
He did started during COVID.
He's like, I had nothing else to do.
So it's just taking videos of me in the store
and you know, posting it online.
And you know, now fast forward four and a half years later,
you know, he's got 300,000 followers.
Wow.
Yeah.
Oh.
Yep.

(01:06:43):
I gotta check him out.
There's a formula.
I mean, I think also us just doing this and pushing it
and just keep kind of riding through repetition
and not getting like upset that, you know, it's not,
if it's not taking off.
But 300,000 followers.
Hard work will pay off though.
Eventually, hard work, you put a lot of effort
into something and you stick with it.

(01:07:05):
It'll definitely pay off.
Yeah.
Matt, listen, thanks for coming on.
Anything else you want to say throughout to the people?
I think, yeah, I think we've covered a lot of things.
Look, give out your Instagram again.
Yeah.
So my Instagram handle is G-Free'd flooring.
TikTok, same thing, G-Free'd flooring.
Find us there.
Do you guys need any help?
You know, I would love to help you guys out there remotely.

(01:07:27):
Whatever you guys need.
Which is a great feature.
Yeah.
What's your website?
So it's gfreedcarpet.net is our website.
Telephone's 201-967-1250.
All right, man.
Thanks again for coming on.
Yeah, of course, man.
Thank you guys.
Appreciate it.
I'm glad that Otto's little get together.
And I knew you were the first one there.
So I knew it would eventually happen.

(01:07:48):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaking of Otto and Jigsaw PMR,
want to remind you guys that we are sponsored by Jigsaw PMR
out of Oro-Dell, New Jersey.
Great company.
Property maintenance restoration.
This guy has all the tricks of the trade.
Any problems with water damage, fire damage,
they'll fix it right up for you.
They're an excellent company, super responsive,
excellent staff.

(01:08:08):
201-425-4855.
And you can check them out online at jigsawpmr.com.
Matt, thanks again.
Thank you guys.
Max, thanks again.
How do you think it went today?
Great.
I mean, we're getting back into the grind.
Yeah, we gotta get back into it and...
Yeah, well, okay, that was...

(01:08:29):
I mean, what do you want me to say about that?
Anyway, folks, thanks for watching.
Listen, if you want to be a guest on the show,
we're always looking for small business owners,
entrepreneurs, anyone in an interesting industry
will come on, we'll talk, we'll hang out.
We'll just BS, we'll try to find out
the ins and outs of your industry.
You're gonna go to courtsplummy.com,
you're gonna click the Plumbums podcast logo,

(01:08:51):
and you're gonna go all the way to the bottom,
click Apply to be a guest.
We'll get you on, we'll have a great conversation.
Check us out here next week.
We're doing weekly shows.
Really appreciate you continuing watching,
and we will see you next week.
"---T 오빠, we can't wait.

(01:09:21):
oh